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Patent History Materials Index - ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS FOR 1862

LETTER FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS
transmitting his annual report for the year 1862
February 5, 1863 -- Laid on the table, and ordered to be printed.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
January 30, 1863

Sir:
The Commissioner of Patents, by the 14th section of the act of March 3, 1837, is required to lay before Congress a detailed statement of the expenditures and payments by him made from said (patent) fund, a list of all the patents which have been granted during the preceding year, designated under proper heads, the subjects of such patents, and furnishing an alphabetical list of the patentees, with their places of residence, a list of all patents which shall have become public property during the same period, together with such other information of the state and condition of the Patent Office as may be useful to Congress or to the public.

By the act of Congress of March 2, 1861, the Commissioner of Patents was authorized to print ten copies of the descriptions and of the drawings of the patents issued by the office. After a trial of eight months the work was discontinued on account of the expense, and the section of the law authorizing the printing was subsequently repealed. During the past year I have ordered correct and well digested abstracts of the patents to be prepared by an experienced examiner in the office, with the claims and reduced copies of the drawings attached, which accompany this report. The publication of the same will supply a great want now felt by the inventors of the country. The reports of 1859 and 1860 were issued in a style which reflected credit upon the office, and were of great value to all interested in the improvements in the arts and manufactures. The usual appropriation for the preparation of the report of 1861 would enable the office to complete the series for which there are daily demands.

I take the liberty of inviting the attention of Congress to the other matters treated of in my report for 1862, to which I have nothing to add at present.